Award Winning Sparkling Wines

Owner Mark is a huge believer in the power of Pinot Noir-led sparklings, grown on the pure chalk of the Rathfinny farm. So their Classic Cuvée is Pinot Noir-led, and spends 36 months on the lees. Rathfinny only produce vintage wines, and the 2017 is crisp and fruit forward, with just 5g/l of dosage, and a long, chalky, delicious finish.

The Classic Cuvée is a multi-vintage blend, coming from the hundreds of hectares of vineyards owned by Nyetimber. It’s a brilliant introduction to the range here. Creamy and fruit forward, there’s lovely structure, with a long and chalky finish.

The top production of the estate. Chardonnay-led, with a small proportion aged in oak, giving a slight smokiness to the wine, this is serious and incredibly long. There’s lovely, salty minerality on the finish, completing the picture.

Prior to 2010, the Classic Cuvée was a single vintage wine, and we’ve liberated a few bottles of the gorgeous 2009 Classic Cuvée, a wonderful vintage in England. Late disgorged just for Lay & Wheeler, it shows the ageing potential of this brilliant wine. Notes of ripe apples, caramel, and a hint of forest floor, this is utterly delicious.

Chardonnay-led, with around 20% reserve wines in the blend, it’s got just 4.5g/l of dosage added. This is a taut English fizz, with lots of green apple fruit, and a long and savoury finish: the perfect way to discover Hambledon.

The N/V Brut is a blend of near-equal parts of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Meunier, that spends 3 and a half years on the lees, prior to disgorgement. Ample and creamy, with plenty of richness, it’s a lovely introduction to the house style.